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Yet another encounter with the critters

Chili, the cat, sits in the kitchen focused on the stove. She’s so intent that not even Whiskas treats can tempt her away from her lookout post. Any other time she’s like the cat in the ad when it comes to Whiskas, so we know something is up.

We note that each time her tail, with its broken tip, swishes, we also hear funny clicking sounds from under the stove. We need to investigate.

We pull the stove half-out carefully as it’s gas and we don’t want to damage the line. We peer over the back and sure enough there’s a black lizard, body bent at a 90 degree angle, huddled in the corner. And he or she has amassed a stash of cat and dog food. Neither pet is around of course, just when we need them to be on rousting duty.

He prods the lizard with a broom. It shifts position. Okay, definitely alive. We’ve heard that black lizards bite so this might be a little more dangerous than the usual lizard encounters. Wearing a pair of heavy leather gloves (he calls them)/gauntlets (I say), he reaches down to grab the lizard by the tail. But it eludes him and scurries under the fridge.

We pull out the fridge. No lizard. Okay, then he’s under the fridge. A poke with the broom handle sends the lizard into the bottom shelf of the cupboard. Now what? I fetch a box. If we can get it over the lizard (a method we have experience with), we can carry him out to the empty lot at the end of the block.

That day the bottom shelf has bags of dog food, dog dishes, some groceries, and empty bags for garbage. The lizard is ensconced within this mélange.

Still wearing the leather gloves, he pokes with the broomstick and pulls it out with a plastic bag hanging over the end.

“It’s heavy. What have you got in here?”

“Those were all empty.”

The bag moves.

“Yahoo, we’ve got him.”

The bag goes into the box. The box gets carried to the empty lot. And, happy ending, the lizard is set free.

Photo Courtesy of Christina Stobbs

See also: A Lizard in the Kitchen – https://emandyves.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/a-lizard-in-the-kitchen/

There’s been a family of lizards in my backyard ever since I was a little girl: we’ve come to known them as our pets, because they just never leave! They climb onto the mosquito net by my window and stay there. I think they’re kind of cute, too!

One night as I wanted to use the toilet, I found something crawling out. It was light brown; its tongue poking out like that of a snake. I shouted “Jesus” only to discover seconds after that it a lizard; some special kind of lizard here that could be mistaken for a thin snake. Ah! I guess all animals love to explore.